Thermal curing of crystallographic defects on a slim-cut silicon foil

The SLIM-Cut method [1] addresses one of the most important challenges of crystalline-Si for photovoltaics: kerf-free wafering of substrates as thin as 50 microns. The SLIM-Cut technology is fully based on mechanical stress and it is compatible with low-cost fabrication methods: a stress field is applied to a silicon wafer so that a crack propagates in the silicon substrate parallel to the surface at a given depth. The top silicon layer is separated from the parent substrate and processed into a solar cell.